Coalition of Newark educators form unlikely alliance trying to reform city schools

John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerStephen Adubato Sr. talks with principal Deborah Terrell at the Harriet Tubman School in Newark where he served as principal for a day.

With educational leaders from Washington to Trenton embracing the role of charter schools in public education, a group of Newark educators — from both charter and district schools — has formed an unlikely alliance to tackle the work of reforming Newark’s city schools.

In all, 55 teachers and administrators meet monthly, and have even attended a December retreat, at each member’s own cost, in Puerto Rico. Members say the group is trying to put long-held prejudices aside and share successful practices.

"Its changing my whole perception and my mind set in terms of how we are educating our students," Eugene Brown, principal of Chancellor Avenue Elementary School, said of the coalition.

At stake is finding a way to improve the state’s largest school district, a district where only 38 percent of its high school students test as proficient in math and an estimated 52 percent graduate, according to district statistics. Charter schools, designed to be laboratories for educational experimentation, are expected to lead the way for wholesale improvement in school districts.

But detractors have questioned whether the work at these schools can be duplicated in district schools because charter schools often play by different rules, such as providing longer school days and having greater flexibility in hiring, firing and compensating teachers.

Members of the Newark coalition work on the premise that there is common ground, that practices like improving school climate, and increasing parental involvement can be implemented right away.

Brown said one of the most important things he has learned as a member of the coalition is to identify specific students’ needs and come up with a customized plan to help them improve.

"That’s something they do very well there and something we’re trying to do very well," Brown said referring to charter schools. "It would be foolish not to listen to other folks that are doing it well."

Deborah Terrell, principal at Harriet Tubman school and one of the founding members of the coalition along with Stephen Adubato Sr., a founding member of Robert Treat Academy, a charter school, acknowledges that her school has more challenges than many charter schools, but that certain aspects, such as student expectations, can still be addressed.

"Expectation is a theme throughout everything we do," Terrell said of her blue-ribbon school.

Jose Aviles, principal of the troubled Barringer High School, has also implemented what ideas he can, but says the constraints of the teachers’ contract has prevented him from exploring the major innovations used by charters.

"The advisory concept — that’s when a teacher has a group of kids and they meet with them on a weekly, monthly basis — that’s something I’m trying to implement," Aviles said, but added that ideas such as longer school days, limited tenure, and after school strategy meetings are prevented largely by union-negotiated contracts.

"It’s not that teachers aren’t willing to do it," Aviles said. "We have teachers that come and early and leave late, but the structure is so stringent."

He said small changes, like increasing the wait time for tenure to five years, would foster major improvements.

Newark Teachers Union president Joseph Del Grosso said he would be willing to work with charters provided they adhere to some of the rules governing district schools.

"My only opposition to charter schools in general is that they’re unregulated and it’s not a level playing field," said Del Grosso. He added that while charters must use a lottery for admission, they are allowed to get rid of low performing and special needs students.

"Over the last two and a half years, 850 students have been returned to the district schools," Del Grosso said adding that district schools do not enjoy the same prerogative.

Newark Superintendent Clifford Janey said the work of the coalition mirrors wider reform efforts that he has already undertaken since his arrival in 2008. Janey also acknowledges that the coalition is unique.

"It’s pretty rare because there is still this zero-sum game between district and charter schools," he said referring to competition for students and funding between district and charter schools. "That notion has cascaded down to a level of contempt."

At least one expert said the discussion among the coalition members is rare, and puts Newark at the forefront of school innovation in the U.S.

"The relationship between charter schools and district schools is a strained one," said Russ Whitehurst, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. "I would say that what you’ve got going on in Newark is unique."